May 18, 2021

In normal conditions it takes close to 45 days, to close loans in 45 days, Joe Garza, an Arizona-based mortgage professional who is the owner of Olympus Home Loans can get his clients approved for a mortgage in as little as a days’ time. He has earned several recognitions from United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), including as a top 1% producer. Garza has successfully grown from a one-man shop to seven employees over the past four years, and together the team has closed over $35 million in 2020. With the help of digitization , he has managed these speedy turn times and growth. Garza said, in the mortgage industry, technology is the biggest missed opportunity for many companies. The importance of real-time, remote collaboration was reiterated during the difficult times of the pandemic where the team and clients could not be in one due to social distancing. He said for a mortgage brokerage to scale efficiently it was important to digitalize. During the COVID-19 pandemic phase, his team had to quickly adapt to new ways of working and doing business, which took a lot of energy and focus. Graza looked at all options to increase the efficiency of his company and for his customers, and came up with digital home closings. But even before the pandemic led to lockdowns, the company was already using JetClosing , a virtual real estate closing platform to complete transactions, which was an innovation that set them apart from other old-fashioned brokerages. I started working with Much before the pandemic hit JetClosing’s, the team could accommodate Olympus’s 17-day average turn times with some of their wholesale lenders. A very important role in modernizing Olympus’s internal processes was taken over by JetClosing enabling Graza and his team to respond quickly by helping a lot of people in less time by closing the loans quickly. In 2020 when the rates were historically low, and the demand for refinance and resale increased, much of the administration work associated with the lending process got automated by JetClosing, enabling them to focus on more high-value tasks for their customers. Come the homebuying season realtors would be important partners so Olympus is invested in building strong relationships with realtors and real estate companies. Garza is figuring out strategies on how to qualify customers for loans beyond the standard risk assessment. Along with being diligent in qualifying people there would be numerous variables to consider. For most of the day, Garza is working towards every aspect to make sure they are consistently offering competitive and stable turn times and building relationships with his employees and customers. Graza motivates other players in this field to try out of box approach to succeed. Self-belief, a strong support system, and facing challenges with hard work are the keys according to Graza.